Jessica Lewis McFate

Director of Tradecraft and Innovation, Institute for the Study of War

Jessica Lewis McFate is the Director of Tradecraft and Innovation at the Institute for the Study of War. She joined ISW after eight years of service on Active Duty as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. Her military career includes 34 months deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, where she provided intelligence support to tactical, operational, and theater commands. She has twice been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for her impact upon operations. She is the author of The ISIS Defense in Iraq and Syria: Countering an Adaptive Enemy, The Islamic State of Iraq Returns to Diyala, Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent, and Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurgent, Part II. Additionally, Ms. McFate is the co-author of A Strategy to Defeat the Islamic State. She has also authored several of ISW’s Iraq Updates including “Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s ‘Breaking the Walls’ Campaign Achieves Its Objectives at Abu Ghraib” and “The ISIS Battle Plan for Baghdad.” Ms. McFate’s work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal (“The Terrorist Army Marching on Baghdad” and “Islamic State’s Global Ambitions”) and she has made frequent appearances on both television and radio programs, including Fox News, CNN, Al-Jazeera America, BBC (TV and radio), Voice of America (TV and radio), National Public Radio, and Wall Street Journal Live. In addition, she has been cited as a source for numerous articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Daily Beast, Yahoo News, McClatchy News, and other publications. Ms. McFate holds a B.S. in Strategic & International History and International Relations from West Point and an M.A. in Strategic Intelligence from American Military University.